PWA Tenerife World Cup - Epic competition on day 4

Day four of the 2012 PWA Planet Win 365 Tenerife World Cup brought to a close an epic competition as the double elimination was completed by the early afternoon. Nuclear winds and powerful waves bombarded El Cabezo for the second day in a row as the women reached for their 3.0s whilst big guys hung onto their 3.7s.

In the end Philip Köster (Starboard / NeilPryde / Maui Ultra Fins) defended his single elimination victory to be crowned the overall champion of Tenerife, after a mind blowing jumping display. Meanwhile, Iballa Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne) dug deep to come back and beat her sister, Daida Ruano Moreno (Starboard / Severne) and in doing so, she ensured she kept her perfect start to the season intact.

In the Men's Double Elimination, there was a scintillating display from Alex Mussolini (Tabou / Gaastra) as the Spaniard won five heats in a row to move up to second place overall. Mussolini’s wave riding was truly world class and his jumping repertoire was superb as well. Mussolini combined super vertical top turns in the pocket with monstrous wave 360s to leave his opponents with very little chance of beating him. The Spaniard also landed astronomical stalled forwards on his way to firstly beating; John Skye (RRD / Mystic / MFC) and Thomas Traversa (Tabou / Gaastra). Mussolini then took down Dany Bruch (Starboard / Severne / AL360), who wasn’t in quite the same form as earlier in the week after he suffered an ankle injury yesterday. Next up for Mussolini was Ricardo Campello (JP / NeilPryde / MFC).

The Venezuelan landed an incredible double forward but he wasn’t in the same league when it came to wave riding. Mussolini then took on Victor Fernandez (Fanatic / North) for a place in the winners’ final and he certainly stepped up for the occasion. Fernandez may have pulled one of the best frontside smacks of the competition, but Mussolini went one step further as he landed two incredible wave 360s on one wave and the highest stalled forward of the week, to earn the right to face Köster.

The Winners’ Final was absolutely astonishing as both sailors pushed the limit of the sport. Philip Köster’s jumping was out of this world and with is first two jumps he landed his trademark double forward and a pushloop forward, which superlatives cannot give justice too. Whilst Köster was killing the jumps, Mussolini was shredding every wave to pieces.

The Spaniard delivered the highest wave score of the final with a perfect ten, Mussolini opened the wave with a massive wave 360 followed by a super vertical frontside smack and a sick taka. Even after beating Köster on wave scores it still wasn’t enough to beat the wonder kid, after he racked up a possible twenty-three points out of twenty-four from jumping alone. Once Köster had completed a couple of excellent waves he looked to try and go even bigger. Firstly he landed an even better double forward, by landing bolt upright, before trying to launch himself into a triple. For now the triple will have to wait but he’s certainly motivated to keep trying them.

Philip Köster: 'I’m super stoked with the win, especially since Alex Mussolini was absolutely on fire today. I tried the triple and I really want to do it, hopefully we get the same conditions as last year in Denmark and I can pull it off!'

Iballa Ruano Moreno left it until the last minute to strike back against Daida, just like in Pozo. Iballa was trailing in the winners’ final until the final moments when she produced a moment of sheer brilliance by pulling an outstanding goiter to turn the contest on its head. Daida had linked together her own excellent waves and a perfectly executed backloop but with no time to respond the twin sisters headed into a super final for second time in two events.

The Super Final turned out to be just as an intriguing battle as the winners’ final as the Moreno twins fought each other tooth and nail for the event victory. After a couple of crashes from both of the girls due to the howling winds, Iballa eventually opened the final with a radical pushloop and a huge backloop. Daida responded with a big backloop of her own and an amazing stalled forward to level the scores. With the jumping department remaining unbelievable tight the contest came down to who could perform better on the wave.

On this occasion Iballa’s wave selection and positioning proved to be to deciding factor as she managed to rack up two great waves. Iballa looked super fluid on the wave as she unleashed several powerful frontside smacks and a superb frontside aerial to take the lead. Daida had time to respond this time but her fine efforts weren’t quite enough and Iballa claimed her second event victory in a row, after battling back from the death.

Iballa Ruano Moreno speaking after her back-to-back victories: 'I don’t know what’s going on because I managed to pull a big move in the last minute again, I’m stoked although I think I was a little bit lucky. I never thought that I would manage to beat Daida twice, and I am super happy to win two events in a row for the first time in my life.'

Karin Jaggi (Patrik / Severne) was able to defeat Laure Treboux (Fanatic / North) to maintain her place on the podium. Jaggi landed a brilliant pushloop and backloop to hold of Treboux wave riding prowess. The result also completed a Severne top three for the women.

After four grueling days there’s the distinct possibility that the sailors may be letting their hair down tonight to celebrate an epic event.

The PWA would also like to wish Eva Oude Ophius (Fanatic / North) a speedy recovery after she landed a forward loop extremely flat, which resulted in an injury to her neck/back. The full extent of the injury is not yet known but we hope to see her back on the water very soon.